Netflix Originals to Look Out for in Fall 2019

Author: Trevor Charles

Summer might be a great time for holidays and having a dip in the seaside, but for entertainment Fall is definitely the best season. NFL matchups return in September and so do most of the series who had their season finale this Spring. In Netflix, however, you don’t have to wait for long: La Casa de Papel and Stranger Things are coming back for new seasons already in July. Besides that, Netflix has some great exclusive movies coming soon.

Following runway successes such as ‘Bird Box’, ‘Set it up’ and ‘All the Boys I have loved before’ Netflix is setting the bar even higher this fall. The internet entertainment provider has lined up a good mix of original rom-com, documentaries, anime and adventure films set to keep us entertained in the latter half of 2019.

Here are some of the original films to be on the lookout for:

Otherhood

Otherhood is based on William Sutcliffe’s novel ‘Whatever Makes You Happy’ and is directed by Cindy Chupack, who also co-wrote the script. Filming started in June 2018, and Otherhood is set to make a debut this August with a worldwide release.

This film brings together A-listers Angela Basset, Felicity Hoffman and Patricia Arquette. The three women play mothers who are struggling with empty nest syndrome after their sons leave home. Looking to reconnect with the sons, they visit New York where they find that meddling in their sons’ lives don’t work as they hoped, forcing them to look into their own lives for a purpose.

Hoffman is also gracing our screens in another Netflix original series ‘When they See Us’ while Basset is set to appear in ‘Mission Impossible- Fall Out’.

Falling Inn Love

This rom-com transports us overseas where city girl Gabriella (played by Christina Milian) finds herself the surprise winner of a ‘win an inn’ competition. The Inn is located in a beautiful New Zealand countryside, and Gabriella gets to work with a plan to fix and flip it. It is then that she meets an intriguing contractor (played by Adam Demos) and she finds herself rather enjoying the process, and maybe even falling in love with it all.

Falling Inn Love is directed by Roger Kumble and is actually being shot in New Zealand. Milian, who is also a singer, is no stranger to rom-coms and took up her first lead role in the 2003 film ‘Love Don’t cost a thing’. Her Australian co-star Demos was recently seen in WeTV’s ‘Unreal’.

Tall Girl

This heartwarming comedy introduces us to Jodi, who at 6feet1inch is the tallest girl in her high school. Understandably the 16-year-old (played by newcomer Ava Michele) is quite uncomfortable with her height and feels out of place in the school.

Things take a turn for the better when she falls for Stig (Luke Eisner), the equally tall exchange student from Sweden. Stig is hosted by Jodi’s best male friend’s family, and soon she finds herself in the middle of a quirky love triangle. Hopefully, she will learn that her height has little to do with her insecurities.

Tall Girl is written by Sam Wolfson and directed by Nzingha Stewart. The call for the lead was made worldwide with the director hoping to cast someone who can ‘speak to the challenges that Jodi experiences from a personal place of authenticity’.

Holiday in the Wild

If you are looking for a feel-good holiday romance, look no further than ‘Holiday in the Wild’. Kate Konrad (played by Sex and the City alumna Kristin Davis) is the quintessential Manhattanite. She finds herself alone after her husband dumps her just before they take an African Safari that was meant to be their ‘second honeymoon’.

Dejected, she decides to go for the safari anyway and while there meets a bush pilot (played by Rob Lowe) who plays a role in her finding herself again.

Written by Neal Dobrofsky and Tippi Dobrofsky this movie will also raise issues of elephant poaching and conservation, a cause that is said to be important to Davis. In 2015 she was the executive producer in a documentary called ‘Garden of Eden’ which followed the operations of an elephant sanctuary located in Kenya. It was from this idea of elephant conservation that the film was born.  Rob Lowe’s son John also appears in the film as Davis’ son.

In the Tall Grass

Netflix has not forgotten the lovers of horror films and ‘In the Tall Grass’ is definitely one to look forward to. The movie is set in Kansas where a sister and brother going about their business hear a young boy crying for help in a field of long grass. The duo venture into the vast field and soon realizes that not only may there not be a way out, but there is definitely something sinister lurking in the tall grass.

This movie is an adaptation of Stephen King and his son Joe’s short story of the same name, first published in Esquire Magazine.  It is written and directed by Vincenzo Natali. Golden Globe nominee Patrick Wilson will star, and filming is underway in Ontario, Canada.

In the Tall Grass is the third instalment that Netflix is doing with Stephen King, following Gerald’s Game and 1922 respectively.